Can We Finally End the War on Front Yard Gardens?

Here's a breaking update on Canada's most famous front yard garden. Multiple media sources are reporting that Josée and Michel have been given a stay until September 1st which will allow them to harvest most of their produce and allow town officials to review the case in greater detail. So we've won the immediate battle and have until September 1st to win the war. Thanks to all who signed our petition and/or sent emails to Drummondville officials. We'll be keeping our petition open until September 1st to build more support. More info as we have it. -Roger

---UPDATE July 23rd 10pm Eastern----

ORIGINAL POST:

Do you remember that gorgeous front yard garden I shared a couple weeks ago? Well, the gardeners are being ordered to remove most of it by town bureaucrats. We've created a bilingual petition here to show global solidarity and deliver the message that front yard vegetable gardens are here to stay. Please sign, like and share the link.

For those not using facebook, you can send a respectful email in French (double-checked for accuracy and politeness by my French-speaking wife) to the council members who are deciding the fate of Josée's and Michel's garden.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR, Roger Doiron

Father, husband, son, brother and uncle. Garden activist, advocate, writer, speaker and photographer. Founder of KGI and certified garden geek. Growing lots of good stuff on the coast of Maine.

Comments

david e kelley

Thu, 07/19/2012 - 09:52

What a lovely front yard! I signed with pleasure. Unfortunately some of my neighbors, although wonderful people, would also complain because it doesn't fit the pattern of green carpet with shrubs and some flowers.
stay natural, David

My neighbor's right to have his yard a green carpet equals mine to have it planted with vegetables.If we both remember this then we can together defend our right. We should not allow democracy to turn into a conspiracy of the majority against the minority.Or vice versa. Admin: petition does not take my signature.

OK ! I just sent this proposed respectful e-mail in French; and was very tempted to add the following line: "If enough people find Your nose unsightly will You then be cord-ordered to cut it off?" However, I DID NOT add anything. Roger: special thanks to Your wife and You for preparing this alternative. Greetings,antonis

I would like to see kgi establish an archive of excellent ordinances for front-yard gardens - and chickens - from cities & towns of different sizes & cultures. Why not BE-stow the change you want to SEE? Writing visionary & effective good ordinances takes always-limited time, effort & talent. It's a blessing to start with the best ordinances & just fine-tune them for individual locales. kgi could even get a lot of PR mileage out of establishing an annual kgi award for *Excellence in Front Yard Garden Ordinances.* There's more fun to be had when I think of a chicken ordinance award. Our popular chicken ordinance doesn't allow roosters, but still I hear one rooster a lot - at the perfect distance, too ... :-)

Roger, I am wondering if the owners or other visitors have taken the time to document their stunning front-yard garden with photos, planting plans, etc. The use of built elements combined with crop selection is so aesthetically pleasing that it seems most reasonable mainstream folks would be convinced that it's ok to replace a front lawn with this garden. I've been gardening my whole life and never had such a tidy one. :)

Never knew that a big Country like Canada had such small ideas about gardening and how a city-garden should look like.
Maybe you can diminish the pressure and angry faces by planting a little hedge; or a nice tree on a corner to please the bureaucrats!
Another way to overcome problems is to plant a vegetable-garden as were it a 'normal' garden, but its a lot more work to keep it tidy...